The field of the present invention relates to wireless telecommunications. In particular, apparatus, systems, and methods are described herein for providing distributed wireless online access, along with business methods for deploying such a system.
With the recent explosive growth of the Internet and accompanying demand for high-speed online access, the so-called “last-mile problem” has assumed great importance in the telecommunications industry. The “last-mile” problem refers to the technical and economic difficulties associated with bringing high-speed online access and/or data transmission to each and every business, residence, and other location. High-speed data transmission is already provided on the Internet backbone, and many large entities (corporations, telecommunications companies, universities, research institutions, computing facilities, online service providers, electronic commerce providers, and so on) have direct connections or links to the Internet backbone, thereby enjoying data transmission rates of up to 100 Mb/s. Most residences and smaller businesses rely on direct connections using modems and standard telephone lines for online access, typically at maximum data transmission rates of 56 kb/s. There has been some headway made in providing more widely deployed and higher speed online access, mainly through television cable systems and digital subscriber lines (DSL's) provided by phone companies, but high-speed online access is still quite limited, and may never be deployed in some areas. The potential infrastructure development required to widely deploy high-speed online access may prove to be enormous, and may be particularly problematic in established neighborhoods.
Wireless communications technology may provide alternative solutions to the “last mile problem”. Relatively low-cost devices are available for wirelessly linking devices, and if these were widely deployed a wireless network could be formed breaching the gap between the Internet backbone and a multitude of individual local users. This could be accomplished without significant infrastructure development or disruption of existing systems or structures. Wireless network connections also offer the possibility of mobile connections to the network, or even the network itself being mobile.
It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for widely deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that does not entail substantial infrastructure development and/or investment. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for widely deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that may be readily implemented in existing neighborhoods without substantial disruption of existing structures, facilities, and/or services. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for widely deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that may be readily expanded into un-served geographic areas. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access that is affordable for users and that may generate substantial revenue streams with minimal initial investment. It is therefore desirable to provide apparatus and methods for deploying/providing high-speed wireless online access having mobile network elements and/or links, thereby enabling implementation of a mobile network.